A few years ago, collaborative solutions and other systems such as unified communications were usually reserved for large corporations. These solutions were expensive and were not meant for small businesses. Today, however, the same solutions – the upgraded versions of them to be exact – are changing the landscape for small and home businesses.

Unified communications in particular are becoming more accessible. Cloud-based solutions such as Cisco Spark are now being offered as services, allowing smaller businesses to take advantage of the platforms without investing a lot of money into hardware and licenses. There is no doubt that unified communications solutions are transforming small businesses.

Better Ways to Communicate

As mentioned earlier, the same solutions that were only available to large enterprises are now accessible as services through companies like KBZ. This means small businesses can now integrate their telephone numbers, fax lines and data communications into one easy-to-use solution.

Some of the more advanced features are also available through these solutions. An integrated audio and web conferencing platform enables small business owners and employees to work efficiently, have remote meetings scheduled and get more things done in a relatively shorter period of time.

Of course, we can’t really talk about unified communications without talking about Presence, a feature that is now a standard with most solutions. Presence allows other users on the same system to reach a particular person quickly and efficiently.

What Presence does is detect if a particular person is available. If the person is not logged into the system, the UC solution will automatically determine the best way to reach that person. The next time you try to make contact, the system will automatically direct your call or messages or advise you to use the appropriate communication channel.

Multiple Elements Unified

As the name suggests, unified communication systems are also designed to unify different elements. Some systems can be used as a collaborative platform, allowing different team members to work on a project in real-time. Add-ons such as document management and document editor can be integrated into the system for a more thorough experience.

The same can be said for conferences and meetings. Instead of having a conventional offline meeting or a regular video conference, team members can now show presentations, share live screens and exchange other forms of data and information easily through the same unified network.

The IP based system can even be accessed from remote locations when configured properly, which means team members who are out doing client visits can still take part in a department meeting without a problem. Other resources such as documents can also be accessed just as easily.

Plenty of Benefits to Offer

While the features we talked about earlier are more than enough to change the way small businesses operate, there are still more benefits to enjoy from having a unified communications system implemented into the company’s workflow. For starters, UC systems are much easier to manage and maintain. When you purchase the UC system as a service, you don’t even have to worry about updates and regular maintenance.

On top of that, the best UC systems are actually more affordable than conventional communications. Since you no longer have to pay for telephone lines, data services, faxes and other communication channels separately, you can save a lot of money on monthly communication costs alone.

The list of benefits doesn’t stop there. Top UC solutions such as Cisco Spark are also compatible with a wide range of hardware and devices, including the mobile devices your team members and employees may already be using. There are add-ons and integration options to make the entire platform more useful.

Other suites such as SalesForce and ZenDesk are known to be compatible with the top UC systems on the market. Everything from customer relationship management to a simple helpdesk for online customers can now be integrated into the platform, enabling easy management and better control over the customer experience in general.

Getting Started with Unified Communications

If you’re running a small business and you are not using a unified communications system to help streamline your business workflow, then you’re missing out on a lot of benefits. Getting started with implementing a system that suits your small business is actually easy to do.

You simply need to compare solutions – you can even do trials if you want to get an in-depth look at the systems – and have the one that suits your business best implemented in the cloud. There’s no hardware investments to make and no expensive software licenses to purchase; the solution should work brilliantly out of the box.